Villopoto Widens Points Lead Heading into Oakland

AURORA, Ill
(January 24, 2011) – With three races in the books, the Monster Energy
AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, season continues its west
coast swing this Saturday at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, a new
venue to the 2011 schedule. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto
regained momentum with a win last weekend to extend his points lead by
five in the Supercross class. Meanwhile, Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil
Honda’s Cole Seeley closed the gap on the Supercross Lites class points
leader by clinching his first victory of the season.

Media
day will be held Thursday, January 27 from Noon – 2:00 p.m. in the West
Side Club at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Riders in attendance will
be available for interviews and will ride the track for the media.

Last
weekend at the inaugural Dodger Stadium race, Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s
Brett Metcalfe kicked off the Supercross class main event by capturing
the holeshot. Leading through lap two, Metcalfe suffered a tough
get-off and lost his spot in front to Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki teammate
Ryan Dungey.

Dungey,
the defending class champion, held his lead through one lap, but was
shortly passed by San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart, who won the main
event in Phoenix. Stewart maintained the lead for eight laps; however
on lap 11, after riding bar to bar with Villopoto, Stewart’s front
wheel slid out around a turn, allowing Villopoto to take the lead.
Villopoto went on to grip this position for the remaining 10 laps to
lock in his second victory of the season. Despite the fall, Stewart
managed to register a second place finish, followed by Dungey,
respectively. 

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto heads into Oakland with a five point advantage over San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart.

Photo Credit: Hoppenworld.com

“It
was really slippery out there tonight,” said Villopoto. “The start of
my race didn’t go as planned, but I was able to make up some time early
on and things went my way.”

“It
felt like I had the race,” exclaimed Stewart. “I felt like after 10
[laps] I would be good, and then I lost my front end which left me
frustrated. I had to catch back up to Ryan [Dungey] and those guys. The
way the tracks are built, you can’t pass anybody, so you have to go in
and bump around. You know it still worked out, I ended up second and on
the box.”

While
the race for the top position in the Supercross class is separated by
five points, the Supercross Lites class podium hosted a set of new
faces making a charge at the lead. Heading into the Dodger Stadium race
last weekend, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Josh Hansen sat six
points ahead of Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki teammate Broc
Tickle, with Rockstar Energy Suzuki’s Ryan Morais in third trailing by
15, respectively.

Seely
opened the Supercross Lites class main event by capturing the holeshot,
the first of his season. Division leader Hansen followed closely,
keeping Seely in his sights on the opening lap. As Hansen staged his
move on Seely, his bike stalled, forcing him to restart the race deep
in the pack. This misfortune allowed Seely to gain considerable
momentum and lead all 15 laps to take home the first victory of his
career and the season for the Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil Honda squad.

Troy
Lee Designs/Lucas Oil Honda’s Cole Seely captured his first Supercross
Lites class victory this past weekend. Seely currently sits third in
the points standings heading into Oakland this Saturday.

Photo Credit: Hoppenworld.com

“It
was awesome to put this win together, said Seely. “I couldn’t have made
this easier on myself from the start. I just kept my focus forward the
whole race and I knew at one point something was going on behind me by
the noise from the crowd. I kept the guys behind me in check around
those 180 turns and made sure they weren’t gaining on my lead. I’m
happy to finally make this happen.”

With
this victory, Seely bumped Morais out of the third place spot, and now
sits seven points behind Supercross Lites class leader Hansen.

Supercross Class Results: Los Angeles

1.             Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki

2.             James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Yamaha

3.             Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki

4.             Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda

5.             Justin Brayton, Cornelius, N.C, Yamaha

6.             Kevin Windham, Centerville, Miss., Honda

7.             Chad Reed, Tampa, Fla., Honda

8.             Brett Metcalfe, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Suzuki

9.             Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, KTM

10.          Kyle Chisholm, Valrico, Fla., Yamaha

Supercross Class Season Standings

1.     Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki – 72

2.     James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Yamaha – 67

3.     Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki – 58

4.     Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda – 56

5.     Chad Reed, Tampa, Fla., Honda – 48

6.     Brett Metcalfe, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Suzuki – 39

7.     Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, KTM – 37

8.     Justin Brayton, Cornelius, N.C, Yamaha – 36

9.     Kyle Chisholm, Valrico, Fla., Yamaha – 33

10.  Kevin Windham, Centerville, Miss., Honda – 32

Supercross Lites Class Western Regional Results: Los Angeles

1.             Cole Seeley, Corona, Calif., Honda

2.             Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Honda

3.             Ryan Morais, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki

4.             Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Kawasaki

5.             Josh Hansen, Elbert, Colo., Kawasaki

6.             Ken Roczen, Mattstedt, Germany, KTM

7.             Ryan Marmont, Woonona, Australia,

8.             Jimmy Decotis, Peabody, Mass., Honda

9.             Nick Pauluzzi, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha

10.          Kyle Cunningham, Aledo, Texas, Yamaha

Supercross Lites Class Western Regional Season Standings

1.     Josh Hansen, Elbert, Colo., Kawasaki – 66

2.     Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Kawasaki – 62

3.     Cole Seely, Corona, Calif., Honda – 59

4.     Ryan Morais, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki – 55

5.     Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Honda – 49

6.     Tyla Rattray, Wildomar, Calif., Kawasaki – 42

7.     Martin Davalos, Cairo, Ga., Suzuki – 40

8.     Travi Baker, Temecula, Calif., Honda – 35

9.     Ken Roczen, Mattstedt, Germany, KTM – 31

10.  Nick Pauluzzi, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha – 30

CBS
will broadcast the Supercross class race at 12:00 p.m. EST and SPEED
will broadcast the Supercross Lites class race at 6:00 p.m. EST on
January 30, 2011.

Tickets are available at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Box Office, SupercrossOnline.com, all Ticketmaster retail locations, www.ticketmaster.com,
or charge by phone at (800) 745-3000.  Practice and qualifying begins
at 12:30 p.m., and the main event begins at 7:00 p.m. Club Level
tickets are $75 Adult/Child; Trackside $45 Adult/Child; Lower View $35
Adult/Child; Upper View $25 Adult/Child; Extreme Value $10 Adult/Child.
Fans can also get into the Pits for FREE from 12:30 – 6 PM Race Day
when they recycle a MONSTER Energy Can at the stadium Pit Entrance
(valid only with event ticket). 

For more information on the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, please log on to www.SupercrossOnline.com. For all media requests, please contact Denny Hartwig dhartwig@feldinc.com or 630-566-6305. To follow Monster Energy Supercross on Facebook and Twitter, log on to http://www.facebook.com/supercrosslive and http://twitter.com/supercrosslive.

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